Coaxial cables generally comprise a center conductor surrounded by an insulating dielectric material such as plastic foam which is in turn surrounded by one or more layers of thin metal foil or wire braid to provide shielding with an outer jacket of a flexible insulating material such as polyethylene plastic. The preparation of such flexible cables for coaxial cable connectors generally requires a multiple step operation where the outer plastic jacket is cut back from the end of the cable a greater distance along the longitudinal axis than either a first or subsequent cut which removes the metal shielding and interior insulation to expose a portion of the central conductor core. Thereafter, the wire braid is folded back over the outer jacket and the cable is terminated within a cable connector by crimping or an outer back shell squeezing the cable within a ferrule, and the like. Suitable examples of connectors requiring this preparation are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,583,111 and 4,834,675 as well as PCT application WO90/15454 (based upon U.S. Ser. Nos. 364,917 now abandoned; 434,068 now abandoned; and 509,669 Pat. No. 5,127,853 filed Jun. 8, 1989, Nov. 8, 1989, and Apr. 19, 1990, respectively). Each of these patents and applications is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
The preparation of the flexible coaxial cable for use in the previously described connectors generally involves a dual blade cable preparation tool wherein the blade to expose the center conductor is a notched blade to avoid scratching or severing the conductor. The second straight edge blade spaced apart from the notched blade cuts the cable to a shallower depth to peel off the outer most protective insulating jacket. The spacing of the blades both along the longitudinal axis as well as perpendicular to the longitudinal axis must be tightly controlled for proper cable preparation and to maintain the quality of any transmitted signal. An alternate but less precise preparation method is to use a knife. However, this often results in a nicked center conductor or loss of outer braid shielding wires.
It would be highly desirable to have a preparation tool which can remove the outer jacket as well as the outer shielding and interior foam while avoiding the tight tolerances necessary to preclude nicking or cutting the center conductor. It would also be desirable to have a connector which can terminate to the coaxial cable without the need to peel back the outer braid, i.e., the cable is prepared by a perpendicular cutting .+-.45.degree. from the perpendicular to expose the center conductor without a separate removal of the outer jacket to expose braid. It would also be desirable to have a connector which guides the center conductor and dielectric upon installation to avoid bending or kinking of the center conductor or damage to the center dielectric. It would be further desirable to have an article which can modify available tubular mandrel connectors to use the simplified cable preparation procedures while making a termination to the coaxial cable.